Maggie: A Hat of the Streets

So, seeing as I currently only have one project on my plate--a pair of socks that was exciting the LAST time I made them, but is currently very boring with yet another sock to go. Therefore, I decided to indulge myself just this once. I've had this lovely alpaca (Classic Elite Inca Print, to be exact) sitting in my stash since I came upon it many months ago, on a yarnage expedition with SuperKnitter and my co-blogger. It was in this lovely, cramped little store called the Yarn Garden in Meriden, CT. Anyway, I was drawn by the delightful colors--they're earthy, but in a bright, autumn-y kind of way.

Little did I expect that I would actually have the hat I anticipated to knit by the fall! I wanted a simple pattern, something that wouldn't be obscured by the variegation, as well as something that I could knit mindlessly during class. Max's Staircase Tam by Robin DeWeese was just such a pattern. Unfortunately, after casting on and knitting the ribbing, I noticed that my size 8 circ was not, as I had thought, 19", but rather something along the lines of 29"...not good for a hat. But I could no longer wait! The warmth, the softness, the autumnal glory of the yarn would not leave my hands willingly. So I...improvised. Basically, it involved shoving a lot of stitches on some very short DPNs, and securing the ends with rubber bands...

I suppose I should get back to the hat. Yes. It is named for the thoughts that I dwelled upon while knitting it. In my lit. class, namely The Novel in the U.S., 1900-1945, we have just finished reading Stephen Crane's Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (which is neither a novel, nor of the 20th century). The pathetic jerry-rigging of my needles reminded me of the tragic heroine's attempts to use bright cloth and ribbons to dress up her family's dismal Bowery apartment. I also imagined, romantic that I am, that this hat would be the type of thing Maggie might wear while wandering the friendless New York streets in the dead of winter. I'm a romantic, I know. Anyway, this hat is therefore dedicated to Maggie, as well as to the professor who let me knit the entire thing during the discussions of the novella.